The worlds 35 biodiversity hotspots—which harbor 75 percent of the planets endangered land vertebrates—are in more trouble than expected, according to a sobering new analysis of remaining primary vegetation. In all less than 15 percent of natural intact vegetation is left in the these hotspots, which include well-known wildlife jewels such as Madagascar, the tropical Andes, and Sundaland (Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula). Worse yet, nearly half of the biodiversity hotspots have less than 10 percent primary vegetation left with five of these containing less than five percent. If we lose the hotspots well say goodbye to over half of all species on Earth. It would be comparable to the mass-extinction event that killed off the dinosaurs, said William Laurance, a co-author of the study in Biological Conservation with James Cook University. Read more at news.mongabay/2014/0714-hance-biodiversity-hotspots-vegetation.html#Sukt7uTdkkB0VwEZ.99
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 00:21:31 +0000
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